easy arm exercises with weights?

I am looking for an easy routine to do with arm weights while I am watching tv in the evening (so I would prefer not a video). Maybe like six exercises so I can memorize it easily. Do you guys have any favorites? I only have 50 days left, my arms look like long sad thin dangling sausages, and I am running out of time!!! Thanks!! 🙂

SpecialSundae: +1… Strength excercises that force you to support/work your entire body would work so much better than small weights. The excercises SpecialSunday give would be perfect! You can even do different varieties of each one to change muscle groups or to make them more strenuous. Look them up on YouTube if you aren’t sure od proper form.

I lift heavy weights (and do all of above), and have toned and lean arms (not at all bulky like many women think will result front heavy lifting)… Other than bicep curls, all of the other weighted upper body excercise that I do require a weight bench to lay on and would be difficult to do at home.

Does anyone who’s not a gym snob have any suggestions? I reviewed my question and it definitely doesn’t say I’m unwilling to get off the couch. I have 30 min when I get home before it’s time to go to bed. Half of that time will be spent heating up food, eating, and cleaning up. I then have 15 minutes of free time that I would like to use to add some basic arm exercises to supplement the core/lower body training I do for my difficult competitive sport that happens not to involve a lot of arm-defining strength moves. If anyone has a few favorite beginner-friendly (push ups are lovely if you already have a huge amount of upper body strength, but are not beginner-friendly) moves I would love to hear about them! And what size weights did you start with?

TrousseauHorse: What kind of weights do you have? Here are some exercies that can be used to tone shoulders/back, biceps, and triceps. I’ve never tried them at home, so some of the couch modifications may not work. Trial and error 🙂 You said you only have 15 minutes, so you’ll have to super set. Instead of resting in between exercises, just switch muscle groups. For example do one set of bicep curls, then one set of arm raises. Also, be sure that the weights feel heavy. It should be hard right from the start because you’re only doing two sets of 10. It has to be challenging if you want to increase your muscle definition!

(Biceps) Bicep curls: Use at least 7.5lbs. Sit on the edge of the couch, hold your arms straight down in front of you, wrists facing forward. Curl straight up until your biceps stop the motion or until your weights nearly reach your shoulder. Alternate between curling straight foward and curling out to the sides. Be sure to do a full motion from fully straight to fullly bent arm. 2 sets of 10.

(Shoulders) Side arm raises: Use at least 7.5lbs. Hold your arms straight down to your sides (turned just barely to the front to avoid injury) lift your entire arm (straight) until your arms are parallel to the floor. Hold for one second. Slowly lower arms to starting position. 2 sets of 10.

(Shoulders) Front arm raises: Use at least 7.5lbs. Sit at the edge of the couch. Start with arms straight down in front of you, wrists facing inward. Raise arms (straight) until they are parallel the floow. Hold for one second. Slowly lower arms to starting position. 2 sets of 10.

(Upper Back/Shoulder) Reverse Row: Lay on your belly so that your shoulder is just barely over the edge. Holding a weight (at least 5lbs). Hold your arm straight down over the edge toward the floor, lift arm up to a 90 degree angle, hold for 1 sec, lower to starting position. Alternate sides. 2 sets of 10 each.

(Tricep) Tricep Kick-back: Lay on your belly so that your shoulder is just barely over the edge. Hold a minimum 5lb weight at a 90 degree angle. Raise only your forearm so that your arm is straight to your side, hold for 1 sec, lower to starting position. Alternate sides. 2 sets of 10 each.

(EVERYTHING!) Arnold Press: Just watch the video. I know he’s a big beefy guy, but this is a GREAT exercise that you have to do while sitting. I use 25lbs weight, but you could definitely start with 10 or 15. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z15_WdXmVw

TrousseauHorse: Wow, OP… Not sure why you felt the need to resort to name calling, as SpecialSundae were trying to help? If anyone seems like the snob here, I think you might want to look in the mirror.

And, yes, pushups are very beginner friendly when you do the modified version on your knees… More so than most other exercises that you could start with. Hence my suggestion of “different variations” to find the right intensity for you. Anyway…

Soon2bmarried123: No, SpecialSundae telling me I need to “get off the couch” is the worst kind of fitness shaming. What if I were disabled and physically couldn’t get off the couch? There would still be worthwhile exercises I could do. Every little bit of physical activity you can add is helpful, and telling someone “I’m going to be honest and it won’t be the answer you want.” implies that I’m a lazy piece of crap who isn’t willing to put in effort to get results. And it’s not an implication about just me, saying it that way having barely read my question implies that that’s what she thinks most of the brides on here are looking for. Even if I were someone who never exercised just looking for a quick fix, I think it would be more helpful to patiently explain why quick fixes/spot exercises don’t work as well as something else.

Your first answer was more helpful, but you did assume I wanted to use small weights vs the “heavy weights” that you lift. I certainly wouldn’t start out with an extreme amount of weight, and I don’t know that I have time to work up to anything heavy with my wedding in less than two months, but FI has a set of adjustable weights that go from 5lbs to heavier than I can lift right now that I was planning to use.

All I did was ask for some easy beginner-friendly arm exercises that could be done in a living room (so the answers would not be “you need to join a gym” or “you should take up rock climbing”) I feel like the answer could be helpful to lots of people who need to get their workouts in at home for whatever reason.

OnceUponATime: Oh thanks this is perfect! I have one question. They always say to lift enough weight that the last few reps are hard. Do you knowk whether it is supposed to be the last few reps of each set? (like #8, 9 10 of set one feel hard and then 8, 9, 10 of set two do as well) or just the last few reps of all of them (just 8, 9, 10 of set two)? Hope that makes sense!

TrousseauHorse: Try modified pushups (on your knees, not feet), bicep curls, tricep overhead press, tricep kickbacks (you can lean over to 90 degrees, put one hand on the couch seat or arm for support, and kick back a weight in one arm), lateral arm raises, front arm raises, and shoulder presses. These are what I did at home before the wedding with 5-20lb weights, and I still do them regularly. Give yourself a day or two to rest and recover between workouts. I usually do bicep and shoulders one day, tricep and chest the next, then legs, then repeat! A quick google search of any of those will give you a good idea of what to do. Also, Fitness Blender has amazing videos searchable by body part; you could do one on the weekend and just wing it during the week without the video.

TrousseauHorse: Makes sense to me. The last few of each set should definitely be hard, but the last few of each rep should be the absolute hardest. I usually do 3 set sof 10, the first is a the breeze, the second is tough, and sometimes I can’t even finish the last set.

I like SophieB3:‘ suggestions. I gave a full upper body workout for one day, so definitely don’t do it all every day! If you want daily, I usually group back/biceps and shoulders/triceps, but really any combination will work fine if you want to target a certain area harder.

TrousseauHorse: You were quite specific in your question that you wanted “easy” with “arm weights” therefore I was quite blunt in saying if it’s easy that it’s all but pointless.

I’m not sure where the fitness shaming comes in. There are lots of modifications for push-ups and dips and inverted rows. I started off finding kneeling push-ups hard, but that’s hardly a reason to write them off.

Generally when people are asking for advice about exercise and have a disability they say up front, so it was fairly safe to assume you didn’t have any significant disabilities.

For the record, I work out at home and I didn’t see any results until I stopped looking for the easy option.

Total non-gym-snob here. Pretty much the exact opposite, in fact. I’ve recently been trying to get my butt off the couch and move some, but, like you, I prefer to do it while watching TV and am much more likely to actually do it for 30 minutes if I’ve got something to distract me. I also don’t have any gym equipment, so I use a bottle of wine in each hand as a small weight. Laugh all you want, it works! Basically, I just try to keep my arms moving. I’ll switch between bicep curls and overhead lifts and bringing my arms out to the side and then front, I’ll pull my elbows behind me and bring my hands up towards my armpits. Bascially I keep doing something until it starts to really burn, then I switch to another exercise. I don’t know how well this will work, but my arms are usually sore afterwards, so I figure I must be doing something. And that’s what it comes down to for me. I have such a hard time motivating myself to do anything that I feel acompished if I do any type of constant movement for 30 minutes!